A useful White House study released: ‘Emerging Technologies to Support an Aging Population’

Just released is the 40 page Executive Branch report on technologies with the potential to better support aging in place. Emerging Technologies to Support an Aging Population was developed by the Task Force on Research and Development for Technology to Support Aging Adults organized by the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).

The Trump Administration has made finding solutions for an aging population–now over 15 percent of the American population–a research and development (R&D) priority to enhance the functional independence and continued safety, well-being, and health of older Americans, while reducing overall economic costs and the stress on the Nation’s healthcare infrastructure. The report identifies six primary functional areas which are critical to aging adults and which should be addressed by technology:

  1. Key activities of independent living 
  2. Cognition
  3. Communication and social connectivity
  4. Personal mobility
  5. Transportation
  6. Access to healthcare

Added to this are cross-cutting themes across two or more of these functional areas.

Each of these areas are broken down into focus areas with key functional needs. From each need, the study identifies R&D topics for developing solutions. For instance, a key functional need under both independent living and healthcare is oral hygiene, and one solution is  developing systems to support personalized dental regimens.

What is attractive about this study is that it cuts to the chase in identifying the themes and the analysis leading to the R&D–and a great deal here that’s useful for developers and healthcare organizations. Hat tip to Laurie Orlov of Aging In Place Technologies, who this week also released her 2019 Technology Market Overview